Labour calls for M4 relief road, seven years after axing the plan

Labour's Welsh leader has called for the Plaid Cymru administration to start work on an M4 relief road - seven years after his party had axed it.

Ken Skates told BBC Wales that there was "no other option on the table" to solve congestion in Newport, and has backed a version of the original plan with changes.

The move will be seen by some as an attempt to distance Welsh Labour from part of the legacy of former First Minister Mark Drakeford.

Labour will table a vote in the Senedd on Wednesday calling for an "appropriate relief road" to be built.

A report said the road could now cost £3bn to build. The Welsh government has been asked for comment.

Skates' announcement comes weeks after the Welsh government set out some options for tackling congestion, including proposals to close junctions in Newport.

It also means that all opposition groups - Reform, Labour and the Tories - are in favour of a relief road.

Drakeford axed previous proposals for an M4 Relief Road in 2019 - on the grounds of cost and the impact on the environment.

The Welsh government has also commissioned an 18-month project to assess possible "roads-based" solutions - although it has ruled out the black route.

A report published earlier in October set out a number of alternatives to a new motorway, and said the relief road could cost around £3bn.

It also warned that the route was no longer safeguarded through the planning system.

"Over time, new development or other land use changes may occur within parts o the former corridor, making it progressively more difficult or expensive to deliver the same highway alignment in the future," it said.

But Ken Skates said the report "shows that no single or combined solution will adequately alleviate congestion on the M4 around Newport.

"That means that there is no other option on the table other than a relief road if we wish to solve the problem of congestion on that route."

He said he believed that an amended version of the original black route - the proposed motorway south of Newport that had been examined and backed by a public inquiry in 2019 - should be the road that got built.

The Welsh Labour leader said the proposed blue route alternative - using existing roads in part - was not appropriate.

"In reality, the black route remains the only appropriate route," Skates said.

"Further work would have to be undertaken to make sure that all environmental concerns today are met and adequately responded to, but something has to be done about congestion."

Asked what he would say to accusations of a U-turn, Skates added: "Well, it's a world away from where we were in 2019.

"Back then, we had come out of the EU, Brexit was causing enormous concern, we were planning for a no deal.

"We were... almost a decade into austerity. There was simply not the sort of money that was required to build the black route available to the Welsh government.

"It was right not to go ahead with it at the time because of the financial cost. I do believe firmly that had we gone ahead with it, it would have been paused or cancelled during Covid."

Skates said he wanted to know from the Welsh government what the status was now of the protected route for the relief road - which was ditched after the scheme was axed.

In a debate on 29 September, Hooper said the black route was not achievable.

"The protected route status went when it was cancelled," he said.

"So, we're talking about decades of work to even get that off the ground."

Skates spoke ahead of the Co-operative Movement conference on Saturday, where he will say that people in the region "should be trusted, empowered and respected in deciding what affects them".

"Their need for congestion to be dealt with can only realistically be met through getting to work on a relief road.

"The debate over an appropriate solution and the balancing of environmental, human and economic concerns should be led by the people of the region, who know best what is needed in and for their communities."